2016-05-30

"You're your own best coach." Rowdy Tellez. Which sounds like something Brett Lawrie still says.

Our boy Jay Floyd caught up with the slugging first baseman last week. He is the youngest player on the AA New Hampshire team at the time of taping. They discuss:

Eastern League competition and what it's like to face the future aces of other team's staffs;

Going to Giants' games and cheering for Barry Bonds;

Being a late round pick and using it as an incentive.

His habit of taping the other team's catcher's shin guards twice before every at bat;

On the whole chip on your shoulder thing: We get it. Baseball is a ridiculous grind every damn day, all season. These guys need to use absolutely everything they can to get up and produce every day. But man, this guy's agent probably sends out a note to all 30 teams saying, "Don't waste a pick on my guy, he's going to USC." Then, everybody passes until round 30 and the Blue Jays throw $850,000.00 your way, which is early 3rd round money. Classic backfire.

Had an equipment malfunction, so here's the answer to the last question:

2016-04-04

This year, 19 willing and able competitors answered the call to The 25 Man Roster Challenge and only 2 are left standing after a long and gruelling spring training. In order to win the coveted prizes this year, 22 out of 25 was required. Considering two of the players who didn’t break camp with the big club were named on all ballots, pitchers Aaron Loup and Marco Estrada, that’s a very solid score. As has been the case in almost all previous years, the tiebreaker will determine glory.

Before we get to the championship round, a special shout out goes to the @gregorMLB ballot. Up until 11:53 pm the night before the season opener he was still very much alive and it looked like there would be 3 ballots advancing. But then, the unthinkable happened...

Normally, the great Blue Jay Hunter is the most positive Jays guy in the room, but he predicted a paltry 12-18 spring training record for the reigning AL East champion juggernaut. We must give credit where it is due, though, and acknowledge the ballsy selection of Rule V pick Joe Biagini.

So as it stands, I have won my own challenge (again). I’m sure you are all super thrilled for me. The prizes will be held in trust and baked into next year’s edition of the roster challenge.

Thanks again to all that joined in on the fun. Hope to see you again next year.

This is a biggie. All 19 ballots have the name Aaron Loup on it. That effectively means this has become the 24 Man Roster Challenge and the tradition of no perfect ballot lives to fight another day. If old man veteran Randy Choate grabs the job as the LOOGY then there's nothing to see here. A one for one swap means this injury doesn't change the outcome of the challenge. If he does not, all of those rando relievers we all picked have another shot at breaking camp with the big squad.

Maicer Izturis has retired -- he was in camp with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal

Three ballots liked the look of Mississauga's favourite son in the bench role. Well, he's destined to get regular at bats just down the QEW if anyone wants to call road trip. The Canadian dollar is being taken at par at the box office and for concessions until May 8th. Bring a jacket and a fist full of cash.

That's about it for now. Good luck to everyone still chasing the loot!

2016-02-25

The 7th annual 25 Man Roster Challenge is a go, and what a deadline flurry we had. With about two hours to go before the midnight deadline on Monday, February 22nd, just about the time when most of the ballots start to roll in, Kenny hit us with this:

Hands down the most exciting deadline EVER. Even the most seasoned competitor realized the magnitude of their error.

First, let's take a look at some fast stats from this year's edition of the 25 Man Roster Challenge:

There were 19 ballots submitted before the deadline

One late ballot that will not be considered

No two ballots were the same (mind blown)

All ballots contained 17 identical names

If any one of them doesn't break camp with the team, this thing could get interesting in a hurry.

Russell Martin

Edwin Encarnacion

Chris Colabello

Justin Smoak

Ryan Goins

Troy Tulowitzki

Josh Donaldson

Jose Bautista

Kevin Pillar

Marcus Stroman

Marco Estrada

R.A. Dickey

J.A. Happ

Drew Storen

Roberto Osuna

Brett Cecil

Aaron Loup

There were quite a few player names, eight to be exact, that only appeared once in this year's roster challenge. Those names will be bolded.Consider them the long shots. It must be said that you do have to take chances in this game to win it.

We apologize in advance for the length of this post. Still haven't figured out a better way to roll out the ballots. Each team has a name, their tiebreaker and the remaining eight players not listed above. Some of them we commented on. Some of them we didn't.

Blue Birds Have All The Fun

17-13

Drew Hutchison

Steve Delabar

Gavin Floyd

Jesse Chavez

Josh Thole

Michael Saunders

Ezequiel Carrera

Darwin Barney

The only ballot without Aaron Sanchez on it, thus making us type out the name Sanchez 18 times. Swell.

@gregorMLB

16-14

Aaron Sanchez

Barney

Carrera

Floyd

Bruce

Chavez

Thole

Ryan Tepera

We are honoured that the beat reporter for Bluejays.com decided to join us all this year once again, and he even dropped a little knowledge included with his ballot.

On Tepera:

Going against everything I normally follow with options... for some reason I just think Shapiro really likes the guy. I'm going to be wrong, they're going to option him for organizational depth but I'm going to stick with this one.

The next three ballots are all on board with this line of thinking.

I Like Nuts

17-10

Sanchez

AJ Jimenez

Hutchison

Carrera

Chavez

Saunders

Steve Delabar

Tepera

This ballot decided to go with eight relievers and no backup infielder to start the year. Somewhat unconventional.

Mr. Castro? Well, we went through the rosters of all the full season teams in the Jays system and came up empty on this one. We considered giving the champ a do over but didn't notice the specifics of each ballot until well after the deadline had passed. Probably this is another ill timed case of the dreaded autocorrect for the name Chavez. At least Castro is kind of a common name. Very tough way to start out when defending a title.

@AndyMc9293

19-11

Sanchez

Barney

Floyd

Chavez

Lake

Saunders

Delabar

Tony Sanchez

Guess it's possible that Tony Sanchez could learn how to catch a knuckleball in the next six weeks but it's more likely that he won't. Maybe the thinking here is that Thole gets hurt.

BJH Ballot

12-18

Sanchez

Barney

David Aardsma

Floyd

Chavez

Thole

Saunders

Joe Biagini

Rule 5 player Joe Biagini would have to remain on the 25 man roster (*cough* or DL *cough*) all season or be offered back to the Giants.

Team Last Row 500's

16-13

Sanchez

Schultz

Barney

Hutchison

Chavez

Thole

Saunders

Devon Travis

Devon Travis will have a remarkably early comeback from major shoulder surgery. You heard it here first.